While the four Rover boys consulted with one clerk in regard to Pullman accommodations, first to Chicago and from there to Maporah, Joe Brooks spoke to another clerk alongside regarding accommodations to the first named city only. The stranger seemed to hold the attention of the clerk, asking numerous questions. But his eyes and ears were wide open to take in all that the Rovers were doing.
“I can’t say that I like that train particularly,” Andy heard Brooks remark to the second clerk after their own business was concluded. “I traveled on it once and the accommodations were punk. I think I’ll ask one of my friends what train he took. He said he had the finest accommodations he had ever struck.”
With the railroad tickets and the sleeping car coupons in an envelope in his pocket, Jack and his cousins prepared to leave the agency. As they did this, Joe Brooks turned to shake hands, smiling as he did so.
“I’m very glad to have met you,” he said. “I’ll mention it to Fatty Hendry when I see him this fall. I suppose you know Fatty has gone up into Canada.”
“Yes, I know that,” answered Jack.
“Hope you’ll have a nice trip when you do go to Chicago,” put in Fred, who felt that he ought to be nice to any friend of Fatty’s, who had always been a good chum.
“Oh, it’s only a business trip. I sha’n’t be in Chicago very long. I’ve got to come back to Buffalo and then go to Toronto,” answered Brooks, and then, bowing and smiling, he walked off and disappeared into the crowd.
“It’s the funniest thing, but I can’t remember that fellow at all,” remarked Jack.
“I remember the fellow who was at the football game—the chap with the stiff neck,” said Andy. “But, somehow, this fellow doesn’t look exactly like he did. That fellow had more of a round face.”
“Well, he seemed to know us all right enough—and he certainly must know Fatty and Ned Lowe,” remarked Randy.
All of the boys were in need of new caps, and they became so interested in picking out the new headgear that soon Joe Brooks was practically forgotten.
But the Rover boys would have been tremendously interested had they seen the immediate future actions of the fellow who had so unceremoniously introduced himself to them. Walking only a few blocks, Brooks entered a telegraph office and wrote out the following message:
“JOHN CARSON,
“Alberg Hotel,
“Boston.
“Four boys and Uncle Tom to Chicago morning of thirtieth. Two days in Chicago, then on to Gold Hill Falls, Maporah. Not recognized.
“JOE BROOKS.”
“There! I guess that will make Davenport get busy,” murmured the young man as he handed the message in. Then he paid for it and hurried again out into the Broadway crowd.
With their mothers and the girls gone, the boys found it rather lonely at the houses, and upon Fred’s suggestion they had the chauffeur take them down in the car to their fathers’ offices on Wall Street.
“I think I’m going to get into the game with dad some day,” remarked Jack, as they watched what was going on. “Financial dealings seem to suit me exactly.”
“I think I’d rather go into some profession,” said Fred. “Law, or something like that.”
“Nothing like that for me!” burst out Andy. “I’d rather be a sailor or some kind of a traveler.”
“Now you’re talking, Andy!” returned his twin. “When we get old enough let’s go around the world.”
“Oh, I’d like a trip around the world myself,” Fred put in quickly.
“Well, if you fellows went, you couldn’t leave me behind,” remarked Jack. “But I guess we’re a long way from going around the world just yet. I think we can be thankful to get such trips as we’re having.”
Since the time the offices had first been opened the business of The Rover Company had steadily increased. The company now employed eight clerks, and the quarters had recently been doubled in size. Dick, Tom and Sam had each an office to himself, and there were likewise offices for the bookkeepers and stenographers. In front there was a handsome reception room where customers might be received.
“Mighty spiffy, I’ll say,” declared Fred, as they walked around. “I don’t believe there are any nicer offices in the whole city.”
All the heads of the company were busy just then, but presently the lads managed to see the twins’ father and told him of the railroad accommodations they had purchased.
“Very good,” declared Tom Rover. “Just what we need. I was afraid we might be disappointed trying to get accommodations at such short notice.”
To the boys, so impatient to start on the trip, the time from then to Monday passed rather slowly. They attended a couple of moving picture shows and took a ride up to Bronx Park, where they viewed the large collection of animals, and went swimming at one of the city’s large natatoriums. On Saturday afternoon they attended a ball game at the Polo Grounds, rooting strenuously for the Giants, who were playing one of the teams from the West. On Sunday they went to church in the morning and in the afternoon the twins did what they could to help their father in getting ready for the trip, since Tom had little time to spare away from his desk in Wall Street.
“Have you told anybody what train you were going to take, or anything like that?” questioned Tom Rover, when the last of the packing had been done.
“No, we haven’t told anybody that,” answered Randy. Neither he nor the other boys suspected that the stranger who had introduced himself as Joe Brooks had been spying on them.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” answered Tom Rover. “Of course, it might not make any difference; but, on the other hand, there is no use in taking chances.”
At last came the hour for departure. Dick Rover and his brother Sam saw the crowd off at the Pennsylvania Station.
“Have the best time you can,” said Dick to his son. “And don’t forget to write.”
“And you take care of yourself, Dad, and don’t work too hard,” answered Jack. “Take a day off now and then—it will do you good.”
“If you hear anything from that Carson Davenport, let me know at once,” went on Dick to Tom.
“I sure will!” answered the father of the twins. “And if you hear anything, you must let us know, too.”
“We will,” put in Sam Rover. And then it was almost time for the train to depart, and the five travelers clambered aboard.
The boys had reserved two whole sections, so there was plenty of room for everybody and for the hand baggage. They were soon out of the tunnel and flying across the Jersey meadows on the first stage of their trip westward.
“Uncle Tom, you promised to tell us the particulars of what was taking you to the West,” remarked Fred, who was curious to know the details.
“It’s rather a long story, Fred,” answered his uncle. “But I can give you a few of the main facts if you’d like to hear them.”
All were more than anxious, and as the train sped onward across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania they all crowded into one section around Tom Rover to hear what he might have to tell them.
“I made my first investment in the Rolling Thunder mine about two years ago,” began the father of the twins. “It was recommended to me by an old gold miner we met out West years ago, a very reliable fellow. I put twenty-five thousand dollars in the venture, and then followed it with another twenty-five thousand dollars. Six months ago I invested a third twenty-five thousand dollars, making a total of seventy-five thousand dollars.”
“Gee, that’s quite a sum of money!” murmured Andy.
“Yes, it is. And that’s why I am so anxious to get out and see just what is going on,” said his father. “When I made my first investment the mine was doing very well, and it continued to do well after I made the second investment. Then came something of a break, and the management of the mine changed hands. I was told that an assessment was in order, and as it looked all right to me I put up the third twenty-five thousand as I just remarked. Now there seems to be another break and something or other has gone wrong, although just what it is I cannot imagine.”
“How did you find out that matters were going wrong? Did they stop paying dividends?” questioned Jack.
“No, they’ve not stopped paying dividends. But I am of the opinion that the dividends are being paid out of the surplus and not out of earnings, as I have a right to expect. There is an old miner out there, a fellow named Lew Billings, a man I know well. Billings has sent me three messages urging me to come on and make an investigation. In his last message he said he didn’t think it would do any good to send an agent or a lawyer—that I had better come myself, that there were some things he wanted to explain to me personally.”
“That looks as though there might be some crooked work there, doesn’t it?” questioned Jack.
“I’m afraid so. Lew Billings is an old-timer and strictly honest, and he wouldn’t send such messages as he has unless he was confident that something was wrong. He wanted me to hurry, and that is why I am trying to get out there as soon as possible.”
“But you’re going to stop off in Chicago!” broke in Randy.
“I’m doing that, Son, because two other men who are interested in that mine live in Chicago and I want to interview both of them, if I can get hold of them. It is just possible that they may have gone on to Maporah ahead of me.”
“Are those two men your friends or do you think they are working against you?” questioned Fred.
“I hardly know what to think, Fred. I want to have a talk with them first, then I’ll know how they stand. If they are friendly, well and good. But if they are on the other side, so to speak, then I’ll have to fight my battle alone,” answered Tom Rover.
“I certainly hope those men prove friendly to you,” said Randy. “It will make matters so much easier. It’s hard to fight a battle like that all alone, I guess.”
“Do you know anybody at the mine outside of this Lew Billings?” asked Andy.
“Not a soul, Son. They are all strangers to me. There were half a dozen men I knew well when I made my first investment. But when the change came those men either withdrew or were forced out. If they were there now I wouldn’t have much trouble. But as it is—well, I suppose I’ll have to take things as they come,” and Tom Rover heaved something of a sigh. Evidently the trouble at the Rolling Thunder mine was causing him a good deal of worry.